Naankuse Lodge

Great staff. Facilities and residence are exceptional. The arranged game tours were informative and interesting. I have plenty of pictures and if I can I will come back and post more.

We visited early September for 1 night. The first impression was that the room had not been cleaned properly (or for a while). During the evening there was a strong sweage smell coming from the outside. Lots of faeces on the patio and inside the room. Feaces came from rats, we actually saw one running around the room. Called the management - a member of staff came in with a broomstick (!) to lead the rat out. After insisting, we got moved to the next room where immediately saw rat faeces again, however, when pointed out, staff did not find it important and just left the room. Looking the roof of the room you could see that it had holes which they tried to close with expanding foam-this indicates that they know the issue and choose to host their guests at those standards whilst charging prenium prices. Needless to say that we slept with all our clothes on including jackets and left next morning without even having coffee as we could only imagine what was going on in that kitchen. Management did not apologise or mentioned anything at all about the stay. Would not recommend. Vibes are grim, cleanliness is below poor.

Excellent stay in a sanctuary close to the airport and Windhoek. If you want to spend the first or last night close to Windhoek, this is the place to stay. I would suggest to stay at least two nights to have time to participate in the many wildlife experiences the lodge has to offer. Corne met us with a welcome drink at arrival and gave us all the necessary information we needed for our stay. He and the rest of the staff have been very helpful and responsive. If you read my review you probably have read as well some other recent reviews as I did and I almost cancelled my stay here. I’m so glad I didn’t, because we had a wonderful time here, one night was way too short. The recent very negative reviews definitely don’t do justice to this great place that has been created with a much deeper purpose than just being a lodge. Don’t expect a luxury lodge at the top end, but the price is totally reasonable for what you are offered. We stayed in the bush chalet number one, very convenient next to the main building with the restaurant, reception and common reading area. Our room was super clean and nothing was missing, everything well stocked, towels, coffee, tea and minibar. There are definitely no rats in the room, my guess is that some guests might have mistaken the rock hyrax for rats. It could happen, if you leave the sliding windows to the deck open, that some curious animals enter the room. Also baboons roam around, they could really make a mess in your room. But aren’t the animals one of the reasons we come to Namibia? Just don’t let them enter your room. We had a wonderful sunset horse ride with Cindy, the caretaker of the horses. She is very calm and did a great job. Her colleague prepared us a sundowner for our last sunset in Namibia out in the wilderness, it was magical. The 4 course diner was delicious and so was the breakfast.

I visited almost five years ago (May 2017), so please understand the caveat that some aspects of this review may refer to facilities and/or activities that are no longer available. (I thought I’d left a contemporaneous review here, but cannot see that I did…?) I’ve been fortunate enough to have traveled far and wide, and honestly can say that my visit to Na’an ku se was a highlight of my travels. Whilst I have a love of all animals in the wild, I have a particular affinity for elephants, apes and monkeys. My three baboon walks during my stay were wonderful, and have led me to considering a stint as a residential volunteer. My villa (shared with many other friends), the food, and the small-but-beautiful pool were all delightful. Even more importantly, the staff were exceptionally friendly and accommodating. If you have the chance to, I encourage you to visit!